Carlos Sainz has claimed his weekend in Azerbaijan has become a damage-limitation exercise after losing confidence in his Ferrari.

Sainz has struggled over the past two days at the Baku Street Circuit, with the Spanish driver enduring a number of moments that have resulted in him locking up or losing the car, mercifully for him without incident.

It has resulted in the 28-year-old finishing considerably off the pace of team-mate Charles Leclerc who has claimed pole position for both the sprint and grand prix. The Monégasque was second in the sprint behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

After finishing fifth in the 17-lap sprint, Sainz could only bemoan his woes, not helped by the lack of practice under the revised format for this weekend.

Reflecting on his performance in the sprint, he said: “Not a surprise when you cannot change anything in the car, and when you cannot really experiment to get yourself comfortable then you are in for a difficult weekend like I am now.

“I’ve done some steps with my driving and changed a few things to try to adapt myself to the balance that I have on the track, but it’s proving to be a very challenging weekend.

“At this point, knowing what the pace is this weekend, it’s more a damage-limitation weekend for me than anything else.

“I’m really struggling out there with confidence, always feeling really on the limit of the rear axle and it’s not a nice feeling to have around Baku.”

Asked by Speedcafe as to why he was lacking in confidence, Sainz replied: “I (don’t) have an explanation why I clearly don’t feel comfortable and confident.

“If I would then I would just be lacking three-tenths, half a second per lap, but I clearly don’t have the confidence.

“I’m going to need more time after this weekend to really go deeper into the data, because now with this format you just simply don’t have time.

“You’re going into a quali, into a race, into another quali, and it’s impossible to take conclusions or to change anything that would help me for sure get a bit more comfortable, so I’m a bit stuck.

“It gets to a point where you just need to accept it. It’s one weekend in my life that I’m feeling this strange situation and at this point, it’s more damage limitation.”